Detective Killer
by 3DPhantom
Summary: Kaitou Kid has a number of crazed fans; some are less benevolent than others. Edogawa Conan, sometimes known as the "Kid Killer," is widely regarded by the media as being Kaitou Kid's number one enemy. When one of Kid's more insane fans tries to 'help' Kid by publicly ridding him of his "natural enemy", who will come to rescue the Little Detective? (Duh, Kid, of course!)
1. Chapter 1: Obsessed

**A/N: I know that the movies and OVAs and such aren't canon, but I include them in my mind, so just about anything goes.**

 **Slash: This story was written with little-to-no intended pairing (hints at Shinichi/Ran and Kaito/Aoko), but feel free to read it however you'd like, with whatever pairs you see fit.**

 **Warnings: Rated a somewhat mild-ish T for violence, obsession, attempted suicide, and sort-of child abuse. (It really depends on your point of view. Conan isn't _exactly_ a child, but it's up to the reader to decide if it counts as child abuse or not.) Also, some very mild language.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Case Closed/Detective Conan or Magic Kaito/Magic Kaito 1412, nor did I draw the cover art for this story (I plan replace it later with one of my own works... eventually).**

-.-.-.-

 _No matter how much we love them,_

 _Alas,_

 _The stars cannot be ours to hold._

 _No amount of obsession nor effort_

 _May alter this._

-.-.-.-

 **Chapter 1: Obsessed**

The front of every Sunday paper had the same equivalent headline. "KID KILLER DOES IT AGAIN!" In bold, defiant lettering. It was a story that had run so many times that it could almost cause Déjà Vu, yet it was still the height of excitement, the talk of the town, and the topic on everyone's mind: The boy named Edogawa Conan, a house guest of the great Detective Mouri Kogoro, had once again defeated the Moonlight Magician, Kaitou Kid! Time after time the newspapers printed story after story and it was always roughly the same, with interesting details and surprises to go along. Kid always gave notice of his crime, Conan figured out what Kid was planning, and at the end of it all the targeted jewels were always safe in the hands of their owners and the Phantom Thief was always gone, scattered unto the wind, hidden until the next time he planned to make an appearance.

Lightly-tanned hands clenched at the Sunday paper, wrinkling the edges and causing little tears in the material. Tears welled in dull hazel eyes...

"How dare he?" She whispered, the paper trembling in her shaking grasp. She always loathed these headlines. "KID KILLER" they said, glaring up at her from the page. She knew that the nickname was an exaggeration, that this little bespeckled boy of course never actually killed the object of her obsession, yet still, every time she saw these headlines she feared that one day the text would speak of her precious Kaitou Kid's capture, or worse, his _death_...

"That boy..." She glared daggers at the picture displayed on the front of the newspaper, the grinning child motionless on the page. Her straight grey locks fell about her shoulders, set into constant motion by the shivers coursing through her taut spine as tears continued to stream slowly down her cheeks.

A thought suddenly occurred to her, and the tension in her body eased away like the light after sunset. She smiled, her lips curling upward. "For my precious Kaitou Kid!" She thought aloud, fondly running her finger over the picture centered lower on the page, a clear depiction of the Magician Under the Moonlight, clad in his usual flashy white. "I'll do this for him, and he'll be so grateful to me that he'll whisk me away with him! Maybe even make me his accomplice!" She grinned, picked up her car keys from the countertop, snatched up her purse, and in a quick procession of movements was out the door.

"I'm going out," she called to her father upstairs, who she knew was likely already passed out in his study, or at the very least was in a drunken stupor. He never paid attention to her, and her mother was never home, working long hours at the local bar. She wouldn't be missed.

Mai smiled as she swiftly slid into her car and drove off.


	2. Chapter 2: A Situation Arises

**Chapter 2: A Situation Arises**

Kuroba Kaito grinned, balancing not one, but _two_ metal spoons on his index finger, one stacked on top of the other. Nakamori Aoko looked less than amused, but secretly she was enjoying it.

"You're such a show-off," she complained, which only resulted in a wider grin. He always knew that when she complained it meant that his little tricks were pleasing her. Her favorite trick would always remain the way he could make a fresh rose appear out of seemingly nowhere. It was the trick he'd used when they'd first met, and despite having seen him do it dozens of times now, she could never figure out how he did it, likely because he always caught her off-guard. Once she had demanded that he do the trick with a short-sleeved shirt on. She'd been disappointed and yet overly pleased when he'd grinned and proceeded to perform his little magic trick, completely ruining her idea that he must hide it in his sleeve somehow.

 _"Come on,"_ he had said, _"if I kept it in my sleeve it would ruin the rose, wouldn't it? A great magician like myself can come up with something better than that!"_ Aoko smiled fondly at the memory.

"What, are you giving up on pretending that you're unhappy?" Kaito asked, startling her and making her refocus on the spiky-haired boy sitting in the booth across from her. They were currently sitting in one of their favorite hang-outs, ordering lunch. Kaito kept glancing up at the TV screen that hung in the corner of the brightly lit mall restaurant.

Aoko glanced back, noting that the news had been running the same story for forty minutes now. "What's it about?" She asked, not actually having been paying attention to the newscaster.

"Kaitou Kid," Kaito replied. "They say he's going to appear today on top of the Beika Hotel." Aoko frowned a little.

"That's funny, dad hasn't said anything about it..."

Kaito nodded. "That's because no one is actually sure if he's going to be there. Supposedly someone other than Kid left a note at the news station this morning, saying that they had a gift for Kaitou Kid that they'd reveal at one o'clock on the roof of the hotel. It said something like 'hope to see you there, Kid!' Or something like that. The note specifically asked that a news crew be set up on a neighboring rooftop to record the occurrence."

"One o'clock? That's only a few minutes away... Who left the note?" Aoko asked.

"They haven't said. Likely they don't know. It probably doesn't matter anyway; I doubt that Kaitou Kid is going to show up."

"Why not?" Aoko looked confused.

Kaito laughed. "W-well, uh, if Kid didn't say he'd show up then why should he? It's not like there are any jewels at the hotel, right? No challenge was issued either. On top of that, it's probably just a trap, or a fan who wants to meet him. Why would the Phantom Thief Kid show up just because someone asked him for a meeting? Someone he doesn't even know?"

"What if he does know who the note is from? We can't be sure." Kaito laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh, y-yeah, I guess you're right about that. But, well, besides just that, the news casters aren't taking it completely seriously either, otherwise there'd be a lot more coverage, and there'd be a helicopter in the sky." He pointed at the live footage of the rooftop and Aoko noticed that, just as Kaito had said, there was no helicopter in the sky.

"There are also no police helicopters, so the police probably don't think he'll show up either. Your father will probably still be there though, just in case. He's obsessed with catching Kid, after all. I don't think he'll be seeing Kid today: Kaitou Kid probably has better things to do than answering some person's request, right?"

 _'For example,'_ Kaito thought to himself, _'there's hanging out with you.'_

Aoko shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Plus it could still be a trap, though probably not a trap set by the police; daddy would have told me if it was. He'd have been bragging about it all morning! If I were Kid I'd wait to see what happens at one, too." Kaito nodded.

"You mean you'd wait until right now?" He asked with a smirk. Sure enough, the clock struck one and someone in the restaurant turned up the TV a little. The live coverage showed the rooftop of the hotel. At first it appeared that nothing was happening, it was just an empty rooftop. Then the door to the roof began to swing open.

"Well _that_ can't be Kid," Aoko commented. "He'd fly there."

Kaito nodded. "It's probably the person who asked for the meeting." He continued to play with the spoons, bending them and snapping them back into shape illusively, pretending not to be too interested in what was going on. He watched as pink smoke poured out from the open door.

 _'Covering their entrance,'_ Kaito thought. Figures moved beneath the cover of the smoke, barely distinguishable behind the shroud of the pink clouds. Within a minute the smoke began to clear, and as the situation on the rooftop became clear, Kaito's eyes widened.

Aoko gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth, startled.

"I-I have to go!" Kaito suddenly said, standing from his booth and running out the door. Aoko glanced at him.

Aoko watched as he quickly exited the restaurant, not even bothering to come up with some excuse for his sudden departure. _'I already know he's not Kaitou Kid,'_ she thought to herself, shaking her head and gluing her eyes back on the TV screen. _'Wherever Kaitou Kid is, I hope he's watching this. I hope he does something to stop it! He wouldn't just let it happen, would he...?'_


	3. Chapter 3: A More Dangerous Thief

**Chapter 3: A More Dangerous Thief**

Mai smirked as she exited her car. It was barely three in the morning, the lights in the Mouri Detective Agency building were all off. _'Perfect!'_ It had been easy enough to find the place: The newspaper had an address and phone number as advertisement for the Detective; everyone knew where they could find the Sleeping Sleuth, and by default, his house guest the Kid Killer as well.

Mai approached the door, trying the handle. It was, of course, locked. Before trying to unlock the door she first checked the windows. One of them on the second floor near the fire escape was unlocked and she easily slid inside. _'Cocky Detective, he doesn't expect someone to break into his own home.'_

She quietly looked around. Downstairs was where they accepted customers, she knew, so she approached the top of the stairs, counting three different doors in the short hallway. The first was a bathroom, but beyond the second one she checked she discovered what she was looking for. On the floor slept a small figure, and in the bed slumbered the martial arts girl, Mouri Ran. Mai smirked, pulling a metal can out of her bag and shaking it before quietly tossing it inside and shutting the door.

A soft grey smoke erupted from the can with a quiet _'hiss'_. The occupants of the room slept on, the boy tossing only slightly, as if subconsciously recognizing the danger and trying to wake up, but the contents of the can quickly ensured that both he and Ran were rendered fully unconscious, both in a deep, deep sleep.

Mai smiled and, after a few minutes, opened the door and entered the room, holding her breath. She approached the figure still curled up under his covers on the floor and easily lifted him. She was thankful for the fact that she was a rising tennis star; picking up such a small boy was as easy as lifting her purse. It astounded her that one so young could really be given the title of "Kid Killer," but there was ample evidence saying that he was, in fact, a rather sharp and intelligent young mind.

Mai quietly carried him out the window, down the fire escape, and to her car. She opened the passenger door and set him in the passenger's seat. His glasses slid down his nose and she picked them up.

 _'Who wears their glasses while sleeping?'_ She wondered, pocketing them. Not twenty minutes later she was carrying him up to the hotel room she'd booked.

One woman smiled as she passed. "Aw, your son is adorable," the woman commented. "He looks familiar..."

"He's not my son," Mai quickly interrupted, turning so that Conan was out of the elder woman's line of sight. "He's my cousin; I'm only seventeen myself," Mai said with a smile. The woman nodded and Mai continued on up to her room on the third-to-last floor. Once safely inside she tied the boy up tight, still barefoot and dressed in his light green pajamas. Once his wrists and ankles had been secured she placed a small wad of cloth in his mouth and tied a cloth around his head, holding the wad of cloth securely in his mouth. She smiled and placed his glasses back on his face.

"I'll be back for you soon," she promised the sleeping boy before exiting the hotel room, on her way to the news station.

* * *

Ran sensed that something was off this morning. When she'd first awoken, it was much later than she'd planned to wake up, close to ten o'clock, though she'd planned to wake up at seven. She was glad that today was a national holiday, otherwise she'd be late for school, it being Monday and all.

Besides waking up late, she was also extra groggy. Her brain felt fuzzy, and she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open, her limbs not moving as quickly as usual, lagging a bit. _'Is it because it's a holiday?'_ She wondered.

As she served breakfast she found that there was another thing off this morning. Usually Conan would be sitting at the kitchen table already when she served the food, looking through the newspaper or watching the news on the TV, sometimes reading a book. Today his usual spot was vacant.

"Finally!" Her father commented as she went to retrieve him from the main agency floor for breakfast. "I'm starving! You sure took your sweet time waking up today!"

"You never wake up until at least nine yourself, dad!" She said irritably as they sat at the table. "By the way, have you seen Conan around?"

"Hmm?" Mouri Kogoro asked intelligently, a mouthful of rice and egg already in his mouth. He swallowed without chewing. "Nah, that brat probably left already since you took so long waking up! He's probably out playing with his little buddies or something, sticking his nose where it doesn't belong!"

Ran frowned, but nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right..." She didn't push the topic any further.


	4. Chapter 4: Circumstances

**Chapter 4: Circumstances**

Conan slowly opened his eyes, his head foggy and thoughts scattered.

 _'What... what's going on?'_ He wondered as he managed to pry his heavy lids open. _'Where am I...?'_ Conan felt like something was off, horribly wrong, but he couldn't quite place it yet...

 _'….A... A closet?'_ His Detective's mind finally began to kick into gear. He turned his head a little and looked around, noting the contents of the small space. _'A hotel closet.'_ As Conan tried to bring his hands up to rub at his bleary eyes, it suddenly occurred to him that he was tied up. _'I've been kidnapped?'_ Conan wondered, adrenalin beginning to course through his veins, aiding him in fighting off the last remnants of the drugs.

Conan huffed, noting the gag that was in place. He twisted his hands behind his back, trying to free them. The ropes held tight. _'Great... I've got to think.'_

He processed everything he could. He knew he'd peacefully fallen asleep last night, so someone must have taken him in the middle of the night. There was a large number of reasons a person might want to take him, so it was really anyone's guess who had done it. He wouldn't be able to deduce that at the moment.

Instead he took inventory: He didn't have his shoes, his suspenders, his watch; heck, he didn't even have his bow-tie! The only thing he did have was his glasses, which he likely only had because he never took them off, not even to sleep. Since he slept in the same room as Ran, he didn't want to risk her recognizing him while he slept if he slept without them. After all, the only reason he wore the glasses was because it helped keep him from resembling Shinichi too strongly, otherwise he didn't even need them. The tracking device in them was useful, but not in the present situation: It was off, for one, and secondly, the glasses helped him find whoever he stuck the tracker on, so it didn't help if he, the glasses, and the tracker itself were all in the same closet.

Without any of his other gadgets he was greatly hindered. Was there anything in the closet he could use? Conan peered up, noticing coat hangers that were hung on a bar above him, but even if he somehow managed to stand with his hands tied behind his back and ankles tied together he wouldn't be able to reach them, as short as he was. Not even if he jumped would he be able to so much as touch one. For far from the first time he found himself cursing his tiny, weak body.

 _'If I'm in a hotel...'_ Conan thought, trying to stand. He writhed and wiggled until he was at least sitting up, then he squirmed over to the wall at the back of the shallow closet, pressing his back up against it. He tried to stand, but with his limbs still sluggish from the effects of whatever was given to him to make him sleep, he found standing up to be simply impossible. He had hopped to slam his body against the wall in order to make noise and attract someone's attention, but that idea was now out the window. Instead he began to thump his head against the wall, trying to be as loud as possible, ignoring the way it gave him a splitting headache, his head already throbbing from the effects of the gas.

Conan had barely hit the wall five times before the closet door was slid open. _'Uh-oh,'_ Conan thought, realizing that perhaps he should have listened first to see if he could hear anyone moving around in the hotel room beyond the closet door. _'I hope this drug wears off soon.'_ His thoughts were still lucid and slow in coming and going.

Conan looked up, seeing for the first time the person who had kidnapped him. He quickly realized that he didn't know whoever this teenage girl was.

"Hello there," she said, a wicked smirk crossing her face. She reached down and Conan struggled, but from the moment he'd first seen her he'd known that he wouldn't be able to escape her. Her skin was tanned, which meant she spent a lot of time outdoors, in the sunlight, and he could quickly deduce from the build of her body and the size of her arms and thighs that she spent most of that time outside exercising, not sun-bathing like Sonoko Suzuki might tan. Even as she reached down and lifted him from the underarms he could see that she had a strong sense of balance, and he could feel the power and control behind her hands and arms. She may be a young woman, but in comparison to his child's body she was very strong.

She lifted his struggling form, growling as he kicked at her. "Stay still, _brat_ ," she said and Conan was instantly still. He blinked in surprise, studying her face. The way she had addressed him spoke of pure hatred, her voice dripped venom, yet he was _sure_ that he'd never met this woman before in his life.

She looked to be about seventeen... Had she been a classmate before he was shrunk? No, she was wearing her school uniform, a dark navy blue sailor uniform with a white ascot; at his high school they wore blazers, so she couldn't have been an unnoticed classmate who somehow discovered his secret. So then, who was she, and why did she hate him so much? And why was she wearing her school uniform? Most schools were out today... which meant she likely went to one of the few schools that were still in session today, and she must have stopped by her school, probably to tell them she wasn't staying, maybe faking an illness, or perhaps she'd gone to pick up items that she'd left at school. Either way, he highly doubted that she had left him alone in the hotel room for the whole time school went on.

Conan winced as she dropped him roughly on the floor by the back wall of the room. A peek out the wall-length window next to him confirmed that they were not only in a hotel, but in the Beika Hotel. He knew the layout of Beika City well, and was familiar with the hotel. He could see the Beika Hospital and the Department store from where he was, which meant they had a room high up and on the side of the building facing North. The information didn't exactly help, but it was at least nice to know that he wasn't too far from home. Now if only he could escape...

The lady before him turned on the TV and turned it up, which Conan instantly recognized was her attempt at covering up any sounds he might make. She grabbed a bag from off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. He was about to try and move when, only a few moments after she'd gone in, she opened the door back up and looked out at him.

"Don't try anything," she said, and to his great surprise and horror she pulled out a small handgun and pointed it at him. "If you've so much as moved an inch when I get out, things will go badly for you." She smirked and closed the door again.

 _'A gun,'_ Conan thought to himself. _'So, is she more than just a regular high school student? I mean, clearly she isn't normal, but what kind of ties does she have that she was able to secure a gun? Gun laws are really strict... She must have an organization she works with, or... no, wait. That was a classic colt revolver, not a standard firearm. It looked old, the handle was white, probably made of ivory. So then... an antique? Then anyone with an antique guns dealing license could get their hands on it. She must know someone who collects guns, or sells them, or something similar to that. Despite being an antique, I can't assume that it wouldn't be fully functional though. It likely still fires... She's probably already made sure it fires.'_

While she was in the bathroom Conan looked around the room. He could see an alarm clock on the nightstand near the bed; the time read 12:04 PM. So he'd gone missing some time presumably last night; he'd been missing for likely less than twelve hours. That was, assuming that he had only been unconscious for a number of hours and not days. Would someone have noticed he was gone by now? Surely Ran would have noticed...

The door to the bathroom opened and the girl reemerged, no longer wearing her school uniform, but instead a rather odd outfit. _'What the hell is this...?'_ Conan wondered, watching as she approached him. She was wearing dark red tights and a white tank-top with a red denim jacket; over her eyes rested a matching dark read masquerade mask that curved over the bridge of her nose and curled up into tips by her temples. She laughed at the stunned look on Conan's face.

"What, don't you like it? I have to put on a nice show, you know. Otherwise he won't show up." She leant down and removed Conan's gag, holding a finger up to her lips to signal him to be quiet. She turned and rumaged through the bag on the queen-sized hotel bed.

 _'Otherwise he...'_ Conan considered her words, and her outfit, why she might kidnap him and what her possible motives were. The answer was there, itching in the back of his mind. Who was the person she wanted to impress? And who would be pleased with such a bizarre choice of wardrobe...?

"Kaitou Kid," Conan finally realized. The girl turned and nodded.

"Very good. So you're as sharp as they say."

"Not really," Conan denied. "It was only a guess until you confirmed it." The girl smiled.

"They call you the Kid Killer," she said. "His natural enemy, they say. Well if you're his natural enemy, then you're my enemy too, but unlike Kid, I know what to do with you." Conan looked up at her through a mess of his hair.

"Kid isn't going to like that," Conan stated calmly. The young woman frowned, glaring at him.

"You're a liar," she said, leaning down in front of him. "Young boys should be taught not to lie." She grasped his hair and slammed him backwards, banging his head hard against the wall, the sound of the TV smothering the noise. Conan let out a little yelp, stars erupting behind his eyes. He lost consciousness for a few moments, slowly re-opening his eyes a few minutes later, keeping his right eye closed as blood poured down over it.

"You don't mind your head being banged into walls, right? You didn't seem to mind earlier when you were making such a ruckus in the closet, at least." The lady asked, smirking at him, still crouched down in front of him. She stood and kicked him in the side, making him huff and tremble. She laughed. "I knew you were just a kid, but I half expected you to be much stronger than this." She turned and continued to mess with something in her duffle bag, the handgun laying on the bed next to the bag.

"Where'd you get the gun?" Conan asked, not really expecting her to answer. To his surprise, she turned and smirked at him.

"My father owns an antiques and pawning shop. This is a revolver he keeps in his private study; he was passed out drunk when I went to retrieve it. He probably won't even realize it's missing until the police are knocking on his door!"

 _'This isn't good,'_ Conan thought.

"The police? So you're planning on getting caught, Lady?" Conan asked. She frowned.

"Don't call me 'Lady'! How old do you think I am, boy? First the woman in the hallway thinking you're my child, and now this." She snorted. "Yeah, I expect them to find out who I am, to probably see the gun on TV and track it back to my dad, but I don't care. I'm never going home anyway. After today, Himura Mai will be no more! From now on I'll be Mrs. Kaitou Kid!" Conan had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. Why did Kid have to show off so much? If that thief had been a bit more modest this probably wouldn't be happening right now...

 _'This isn't good at all,'_ Conan thought. _'Especially not for me. She's telling me everything: Her name, her father's occupation, the school she goes to I can easily figure out later based on her name and uniform... She isn't even bothering to use gloves! But why? Is it because she truly intends to be Mrs. Theif full-time, completely abandoning who she was before, or is it because she doesn't plan for me to live past today?'_ His instincts told him that the latter was most likely true, unfortunately.

Himura Mai looked over at the clock. "Twelve fifty-two," she whispered. "It's almost showtime. How about we get going?" She asked. Conan didn't say anything as she slung her bag over her shoulder, picked up her handgun, and grabbed him by the back of his pajama's shirt, not bothering to fully lift him, instead dragging him along, his feet barely touching the ground. "Not a sound," she said, waving the gun with her right hand, the duffle bag slung over her right shoulder. Conan didn't respond.

 _'C'mon Ran,'_ Conan prayed, _'you better have noticed I'm gone a long time ago! There better be a hoard of police officers waiting on the roof,'_ Conan thought, because really, where else could they possibly be going other than the roof?


	5. Chapter 5: The Curtain Rises

**Chapter 5: The Curtain Rises**

Ran was tidying up around the agency. She did the dishes, dusted about, threw away the empty beer cans scattered about, and cleaned out her father's overflowing ashtray. She was just about to go out to buy groceries when she hesitated at the front door. She glanced down at where all of their shoes were kept.

A horrible dread washed over her, and now she knew for _certain_ that something bad must have happened to Conan because, right where he'd left them, were Conan's shoes. His usual red-and white sneakers were still where last he'd left them; even his sandals and dress shoes were in their usual spots. It had been hours since she'd awoken and she hadn't seen Conan in that entire time! If his shoes were all in the house, either Conan was in the house somewhere, or something terrible had happened.

"CONAN?!" She called out, frantically searching through the house, now in a panic. After checking every one of the few rooms she sprinted towards the last place she had left to check: The main floor of the agency.

"DAD! DAD! It's Conan! His shoes, they-!" She halted as she approached her father's desk. He was staring wide-eyed at the TV screen, hand clutching the remote, clearly startled into a still and quiet state. Fearing the worst, Ran slowly came around the desk and peered down at the TV screen. She screamed.

* * *

Conan did the only thing he _could_ do: He waited. He waited as Mai dragged him up the stairs, tossed him to the side on the cold concrete, and watched silently as she set up a smoke machine. She glanced down at her watch.

For a couple of minutes they waited silently before she finally spoke. With a smirk she said: "Here we go!" She twisted the handle and pushed on the door, letting it slowly swing open. As it swung aside she switched on the smoke machine she'd pulled from the duffle bag, pink smoke instantly beginning to pour out onto the roof. She picked up an earpiece with an extending microphone from the duffle bag as well and attached it to her ear, lifting the bag, the gun, and finally Conan.

She stepped out onto the roof under the cover of the pink smoke, Conan coughing as he inhaled some of it. She tossed him roughly to the floor in the center of the concrete square, dropping her duffle bag off near one of the edges of the roof and hastily pulling out some speakers and setting one in each corner of the hotel's rooftop before returning to the center.

The smoke began to clear and Conan glared up at her from his position on the floor next to her, his hands still tied behind his back. She pulled a knife from one of her jacket pockets, the gun clasped firmly in her left hand as she lifted Conan with her right. She cut the ropes around his ankles and wrists before standing him on his feet, pocketing the knife once more and placing the end of the gun against his temple.

As the smoke cleared Conan was able to make out figures in front of him, on the roof across from this one, roughly fifty meters away. _'Cameras,'_ he deduced before the smoke had even finished clearing.

As the last of the smoke was blown away with the wind, Mai held him with an uncompromising strength, her arm slung around his shoulders, clasping him tightly against her side. With the gun still in her left hand, she threw her left arm straight up and out sideways in a wide, sweeping gesture.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" She greeted, her voice loud and clear as it was picked up by the mic and transmitted through the four speakers. Conan looked up and stared directly at the camera. "I have a special show for all of you! And a gift that I've obtained for the one and only Kaitou Kid!" She let go of Conan and pistol-whipped him across his left cheek, making him stumble and fall to the floor. She grinned a wide, lopsided, Cheshire smile.

"I'M GOING TO KILL THE KID KILLER!"

Conan grimaced.

* * *

Kaitou flew like the wind; _literally_.

As soon as he'd seen what was going on he didn't even bother with climbing to the roof of a tall building, or finding a bathroom to change in. Right there on the sidewalk, while running down the street, he had done one of the fastest wardrobe changes he'd ever executed in his entire life. In a quick flurry of movement and fabric he had changed and was pulling out his grappling hook.

Several people nearby instantly recognized him and began calling his name, but he didn't pay them any attention. He didn't care that he was making a sudden appearance way too close to home, and he didn't mind that he'd had to leave Aoko alone for lunch. He used his grappling-hook, shooting the side of a building and allowing the hook to yank him skyward.

The line of his grappling gun wasn't overly long, and the hook could only get so far before gravity pulled it back toward the ground, but after being pulled up the side of the building so that he was roughly fifty feet off the ground he kicked off, rocketing back towards the center of the street. He snapped his wings open, the hang-glider-cape automatically catching the air in his descent and slowing his downward progression. As soon as he was gliding he shot the grappling hook again, up at another building in front of him, the hook yanking him higher into the air.

After repeating this process several times, each time alternating between shooting a building on his left and a building on his right, he was high enough to be clear of most of the smaller buildings. One last hook on a building in front of him helped him gain speed and he dodged just barely past the left side of the building, continuing on in a straight line, the wind whipping his hair as he tensed up and squared his shoulders tightly, making himself as aerodynamic as possible and speeding along as fast as he could go.

 _'Please,'_ he thought to himself, _'let him be okay. I'll never forgive myself if he doesn't survive this...'_


	6. Chapter 6: Oops

**Chapter 6: Oops**

Conan panted as Mai's foot came in contact with his side again, knocking the wind out of him and no doubt resulting in a broken rib or two. So far, any damage he'd received he could just walk off. Where were the damn police?! Wasn't _someone_ coming to help him? He looked up, noting that a news chopper was now approaching the building. The news crew across the way was watching him, all of them eyeing him nervously. Conan looked up at the camera as often as he could, knowing that somewhere out there Ran was probably watching this whole turn of events take place through a television screen.

 _'If no one comes to help me soon,'_ Conan coughed, blood splattering the rooftop, _'I'm going to have to do something myself.'_ Though what he could do, he had no idea.

As if he'd heard Conan's thoughts across the distance between them, there was a sudden flapping sound, a clear and familiar snapping of fabric and a light tapping of shoes connecting with solid concrete as the Phantom Thief Kid landed on the building. Mai stared off to her right, none other than Kaitou Kid himself perched on the ledge of the rooftop a mere ten meters away from her. She grinned widely.

"Kaitou Kid!" She exclaimed, turning away from the cameras in front of her and fully facing Kid, Conan still on the floor between them, scrambling to try and stand. She'd removed all of his bonds, but with the injuries he'd sustained he was still having a hard time standing. Mai glared at the boy in front of her and placed a red stiletto on his back as he tried to stand up, pushing him back down to the ground.

"Kid!" She exclaimed again. "It's so good to see you!" Police sirens could be heard faintly in the background. "And look! I've got a present for you!" Kaitou didn't look up, his head still bowed, the rim of his snow-white silk hat blocking his eyes from her view.

"Kid?" She questioned. "I see you've been stunned into silence. You must really love your present! I know you wouldn't want to get your wonderful white garments dirty, but as you can see," she gestured down at herself, "I don't mind sporting the color red. Together we can be unstoppable! As soon as I-" She pointed her gun down at Conan's head.

"STOP!" Mai was startled, her finger freezing on the trigger. She looked up at her beloved Kaitou Kid, confused.

"Did you change your mind? Would you like to do it yourself?" She pulled the gun up and back towards herself a bit.

Kaitou finally looked up, his eyes sad and clearly concerned, his expression calm. His gaze went immediately to Conan, who peered back up at him through a mess of hair.

"Are you alright, Little Detective?" Kaitou asked softly. Conan grunted.

"You sure took your sweet time getting here," Conan responded, lightly teasing the thief. "I was starting to think you were just going to let her kill me." Of course Conan knew that, in all actuality, Kaitou had probably gotten there at record speeds. The thief had always been strictly opposed to violence, and never hesitated in rushing to someone's aid if they were in serious danger. He was soft like that.

Kaitou laughed lightly, humor almost entirely void in his light chuckle. "I'll make sure to come faster next time."

" _Next time?_ " Conan asked jokingly.

"Hey," Mai interrupted, not wanting to be ignored. Kaito hopped down off the ledge of the rooftop, landing lightly on the concrete, his cape shivering around his shoulders and quivering softly in the breeze. His eyes finally met Mai's and she was confused by the intense sadness and what appeared to be a thorough disappointment in his deep blue orbs. "W-what's wrong? Aren't-aren't you happy to see me? Don't you love your present?"

Kaitou frowned, his eyebrows knitting together lightly, but otherwise he was calm and still. "You probably didn't know this," he said just loud enough for everyone to hear, the news crew picking it up as well. "It's true that we're rivals," he continued, "but I also consider the Little Detective to be one of my _friends_."

Mai looked surprised. She removed her heel from Conan's back and he instantly began to get up. "He's your... your _what?_ "

 _'Big day this is,'_ Conan thought, also surprised that admitting friendship was the path that Kid had decided to take. He finally managed to stand on shaky legs, clutching his left arm which at some point had been hit and was now throbbing and hanging somewhat limply by his side. _'I have to get to him. If I'm with him he can protect me: She wouldn't risk shooting the one she's obsessed with, would she?'_

He tried to take a step forward but before he could take a single step she reached out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt's collar again, yanking on the soft and scarlet-stained green pajama material, pulling him flush against her legs. She lifted her gun-hand and backhanded him. When he yelped she shoved the tip of the gun in his mouth, the cool metal clanging painfully between his teeth. He winced, hating the metallic taste that invaded him.

"No, you'll be happy! You'll see! Once he's gone no one will stand in our way!" Kid lifted his hands in a soothing gesture, as if trying to ask her to calm down. He took a half-step forward.

"Please, just let him go..." Kid took another step forward and Mai took a step back.

"I... I know that you don't like violence," Mai admitted, "of course I know, but it's alright, you'll see! Things will be easier for you after this! You won't have to worry about getting caught anymore, not really! You can be happy!"

Kid shook his head, still slowly approaching. "No, you don't understand. Sometimes Tantei-kun actually _helps_ me! We aren't enemies, not really. Rivals maybe, but what's a little harmless competition between friends?" Kid tried to smile a charming smile and upon seeing it, Mai stopped maintaining the distance between them, allowing Kid to creep slowly closer.

"B-but, but if you loose in this rivalry he'll send you to jail!" She tightened her chokehold around Conan, shoving the gun deeper into his mouth, making him gag a little and bringing slight tears to his wide eyes, his gaze never leaving Kid's slowly approaching form.

Kaitou glanced down at Conan before bringing his eyes back up to meet Mai's once more, holding her in place. He smiled at her again. "Do you truly have such little faith in my abilities? I won't get caught. You believe in me, don't you?" Mai didn't respond.

"How about this?" Kid offered. "You let him go, and you and I can get out of here. How does that sound?" He smiled and approached a little faster, the distance between them quickly closing.

Mai slowly lowered her right hand, removing the gun from Conan's mouth. He coughed as it exited, his throat sore where it had intruded too deeply. "Do you really mean that?" She asked.

Kid quickly nodded. "Yeah, absolutely." He took another step, but paused in his advancement when Mai shook her head.

"No. No, we'll be happy together _after_ I kill him! So that no one will ever catch us! And-and he deserves to die!" She lifted the gun to Conan's temple. Seeing his chance, Kid snatched his own shooting device from his inner pocket, whipping it out and with a swift precision firing, a red, black and white blur shooting out of the end. The card hit it's mark, striking the gun and making it slide along the roof behind Mai. She gasped and turned around, letting go of Conan and diving for the gun as Kid dove for Conan.

Mai landed on her side upon the rooftop, her hands grasping the gun. She turned and before thinking fired once. The shot rang out and everything stilled, only Kid's cape and various strands of hair still in motion as the breeze gently pushed past the three on the rooftop.

Kid was kneeling down next to Conan. He and Conan slowly looked to each other, their eyes wide. Kid was holding on to Conan's upper arms and Conan grasped the white material of Kid's sleeves tightly.

"Kid?" Conan whispered.

"Tantei-kun?" He responded just as softly before, suddenly, Conan's legs gave out and he slumped forward. "TANTEI?!"

Mai let out a deep breath of air, relieved that she hadn't accidentally shot her beloved Kid. She stood and observed what was occurring before her eyes, her elation quickly fading.

"TANTEI! TANTEI, NO!" Kaitou shook him a little, clutching him against his chest, Conan's blood staining the front of his pearl garments a deep shade of velvet, but Kid could care less about his clothes. In the far back of his mind he was aware that he'd just lost all composure, that his poker face had fallen, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He wasn't performing some magic trick, he wasn't playing a game. A close friend of his was bleeding out, right before his very eyes, and he was shocked to the core.

He looked up at the camera crew, staring directly into the camera's lens, knowing that any number of police officers was watching this feed live. "GET THE MEDICS UP HERE NOW!" He demanded before looking back down at Conan's still form. He set him down on the rooftop, peering down at the wound with wide, tear-filled eyes.

The bullet had pierced Conan's front-right side, somewhere near his stomach, and hadn't exited out the back. Kid grimaced before pressing his hands over the wound, applying pressure in an attempt to quell the bleeding. Conan whimpered in pain as pressure was applied, but he didn't open his eyes.

"C'mon, stay with me, Tantei-kun!" Kid pressed harder, careful not to cause further damage to the small form laying before him. Within two minutes the medics who had already been on stand-by downstairs were pouring out onto the rooftop. Kid scrambled up and to the side, clearing the way for them. He backed up, but didn't take his eyes off of the Little Detective, tears still welling in his own blue gaze. The police poured onto the roof as well.

Mai watched as Inspector Nakamori approached Kid. Mai herself was also being handcuffed, but she continued to stare at Kid as they removed the gun from her hands and began to cuff her.

Kid was standing there, her white dove, now dripping with a dark red that stained the front of his shirt and that completely covered his previously spotless, stark gloves, his hands drenched in blood. The look in his teary eyes was haunted and horrified. The Inspector, out of respect, held his men off as they went to cuff him, instead himself taking a pair of cuffs out. He didn't gloat, say that he'd finally won, or smile. He didn't yank Kid's arms behind his back, but instead gently grasped one wrist, clicking a cuff over it before reaching for the other.

 _'What... what have I done?'_ Mai wondered, tears pooling in her own eyes as she watched her idol fall. Because of her he had been captured? Staring at him now, she felt as if she'd done something so much worse to him than simply delivering him to the police.

His white feathers were stained red, his entire body trembling. As far as she could tell, she'd _ruined_ him. No one would see him the same after this, his carefully crafted always-calm image had been shattered. On public television she'd taken her god and reduced him to a suffering mortal. For the first time the masses were witnessing him without a mask on. She'd taken her precious white rose which had been so cherished and had painted it red, simply because she hadn't appreciated who he already was enough.

No, she hadn't even kidnapped Conan because of Kid. She'd always known that Kid would hate seeing anyone hurt in his name, but she despised those damned newspaper headings, hated reading about Edogawa Conan; she'd wanted to get rid of the child who angered her and who could take her Kid away from her, no matter how Kid himself felt about it. She'd wanted to be the center of attention.

Because she had wanted to be a part of Kaitou Kid, of his life, of his history, of who he was, because she had wanted to be in the spotlight, she had _tainted_ him. She certainly had ensured that, at the very least, she would always be a red mark on the image of Kaitou Kid. And in retrospect she regretted it deeply.


	7. Chapter 7: Anything But Fragile

**Chapter 7: Anything But Fragile**

 _'What have I_ _ **done**_ _?'_ She'd never wanted to see him like this... Or had she?

Kid finally snapped his eyes away from Conan as Mai lowered her head, her shoulders trembling with quiet sobs. She was mumbling under her breath: _"How could I? What have I done? How_ _ **could**_ _I?"_

"Take off the cuffs," Kid said quietly to the Inspector.

Inspector Nakamori looked at him sadly, noting with confusion that Kid's eyes were now locked onto Mai. "You know that I can't do that."

" _Now,_ " Kid whispered fiercely, his poker face finally sliding back into place, an eerie calm and seriousness overtaking him.

There was something in the way he'd commanded for the cuffs to be removed that made the Inspector listen. He wasn't exactly sure why, but suddenly he knew that he had to do as Kid asked. Even if Kid just disappeared and the Inspector lost his job or went to jail, Nakamori imagined that it might be worth it to not have to cuff Kid while like this; to catch him only because he'd been trying to save his rival's life.

The Inspector sighed, grumbling under his breath and, believing that he would likely regret this later, unfastened Kid's cuffs from around his wrists.

"Inspector," one of the officers nearby interjected, "what are you-" No sooner than the cuffs were off did Kid spring sideways.

* * *

Mai couldn't take it. She couldn't stand the thought of what she'd done. She was obsessed with her Phantom Thief Kid, but now she had damaged him and she couldn't bare it! As the police began to escort her off the roof, tears welled in her eyes and, without warning, she jerked backwards out of their grasp and leapt off the nearby side of the building.

For what she'd done, she wanted to die. She had nothing left anyway: She'd intended to leave _everything_ behind. If she wasn't becoming Kid's partner, then she'd become nothing at all. She would just die.

* * *

Kid saw it coming and, despite _everything,_ he couldn't just let it happen. As Mai leapt head-first off the building, Kid was already right behind her, reaching. She fell, but within moments he had his arms around her, one arm snaking around behind the back of her legs and the other grasping behind her shoulders.

Mai was startled as Kid caught her, his cape snapping out into the familiar triangular shape of a hanglider. She peered up at him through her straight grey locks, tears still pooling in her eyes.

"Why?" She asked. "After everything I've done?" Kid didn't even look down at her as he circled around, using the natural drafts around the building to rise and reappear just above the roof.

"I don't want to see _anyone_ die," he responded, "and I can tell what you're thinking. Don't worry: I'm not as fragile as you imagine I am." He dropped her, allowing her to fall into the waiting arms of the officers five feet below him. They reached up but couldn't quite grasp him as Kid continued on, up, and over the side of the building. He looked down and saw that there was an ambulance departing from the front parking lot of the hotel. With a quiet sigh he dipped lower in the sky, following it the short distance to the hospital...


	8. Chapter 8: Get Well Soon

**Chapter 8: Get Well Soon**

Conan groaned quietly, prying his eyes open, squinting against the harsh white above him.

 _'Kid...?'_ He wondered, but alas, upon closer inspection he realized that the whites invading his field of vision were not the soft whites of Kaitou Kid's garments, but instead were the stark, sterile whites of a hospital.

He tried to sit up a little, but instantly changed his mind as a sharp pain pierced his side, reminding him that he'd been _shot._ He'd been shot before, yes, but usually just grazes. Granted, it hadn't always been grazes and this likely wouldn't be the last time he'd suffer a piercing bullet, but still, a genuine bullet had struck him and stuck there in his body. No doubt they'd removed it by now: He'd probably been out of it for a few days already and had probably undergone extensive surgery.

Conan looked to his right, noticing two things. The first was a small remote directly next to his right hand that he used to lift the top half of the bed, thus aiding him in sitting somewhat up-right without causing too much pain. The second thing he saw was his glasses. He smirked and reached out, picking them up off the bedside table.

 _'Should I?'_ He wondered. During the short period of time he and Kaitou Kid had been in contact with each other and Conan hadn't been passed out, Conan had slipped the tracker into Kid's clothing. The tracker that came with his glasses was the only device he'd had, so he'd used it to the best of his abilities, but did he really want to look and see where Kid was?

 _'This is assuming that he even still has the tracker on him,'_ Conan thought. _'He could easily have gotten rid of it already, it might have come loose and fallen off while he flew, or maybe he's sitting in handcuffs in some jail cell already.'_ Now that was a thought. Had Kid been apprehended? Conan vaguely remembered Kid applying pressure to the wound: If he'd stuck around until the medics, and subsequently police, showed up, it was entirely possible that Kid had been arrested. In fact, Conan was now sure that this was the most likely outcome, since he knew that Kaitou would have stayed with him and tried to save him up until the very moment the medics were standing at his side, and besides that, Kid hadn't exactly had time to prepare a get-away plan; when he woke up that morning there was no way he could have known what the day's events would hold.

Conan switched the device on, deciding that he'd just use it to check and see if the tracker showed up at the police station, or somewhere near the hotel or on the hotel's rooftop, which is where it would be if it had been quickly dropped. If it ended up being somewhere else completely random and was still, in fact, on Kid while he traversed in civilian clothes than Conan would simply turn it back off and wouldn't try to deduce who he was or where he might live based on the information. _'Kid deserves a little leniency right about now,'_ Conan thought.

Conan put on his glasses and looked at the little radar on his screen. What he saw certainly _wasn't_ what he'd expected.

 _'He's_ _ **here**_ _?'_ Conan wondered. _'At the hospital? Was he hurt after I passed out?!'_ He would have to be seriously injured if he was still in the hospital, since Conan knew that it had to have been at least a few day since he himself had been admitted. _'Was he shot also...?'_ Conan sighed in relief when he realized that the dot on his little radar was moving far too much for Kaitou to be in a single room. Rather, it appeared that he was walking through the halls, and if the quickening thrum of beeps was anything to go by, Conan would say that he was approaching this very room.

Sure enough, the beeping of his glasses soon sped up into a near constant hum of sound and Conan quickly shut them off, realizing that Kaitou had to be right outside his door. After a few seconds, the door finally swung open, revealing a male nurse dressed in blue scrubs who wheeled in a cart with various medicines, needles, and tools on it.

"I hope you don't plan on sticking me with any of those needles, Kaitou Kid," Conan commented as the door was shut. The nurse chuckled softly and pulled down his mask, revealing a confident smirk.

"You're more on-point than one logically should be after three days of being comatose, Meitantei."

"You're not even really in disguise," Conan retorted. "You only have a scrub hat, surgical mask, and fake pair of glasses on. I can tell from here that they don't have the horizontal line across the lenses that almost all prescription glasses do."

Kid chuckled, approaching Conan's bed side. "And I suppose _this_ wouldn't have anything to do with how you knew I was here?" He held up a small disk: The tracking device. Conan didn't respond. "I thought so. Decided I'd hang onto it until you woke up so I could return it to you." He placed it gently on the bedside table.

"….Thank you." Kaitou tensed. He sent a side-long glance in Conan's direction, the Detective looking straight forward. Kid knew that he was thanking him for far more than just returning the little tracking device.

Kaitou chuckled humorlessly. "Don't thank me." He turned away, unable to meet the Little Detective's gaze. "It's my fault you're here to begin with. She was one of _my_ fans and-"

"Don't give me that crap." Kid looked back over his shoulder at Conan.

"My, my~! Little boys shouldn't cuss, you know!" He lightly teased, smiling a small, somewhat sad, smile.

"And you shouldn't lie, Kaitou-san," Conan responded, catching Kid off-guard. "You know this wasn't your fault already. You just want to hear me say it."

Kid chuckled genuinely. "Hmm, perhaps you're right, Meitantei." He sat on Conan's bed, leaning back leisurely.

Conan smiled and pretended to huff. "Well, I'm not going to say it."

"I think you've said enough already," Kid smiled, conveying a silent _"Thank you."_

"Good. You're spoiled enough as it is, I'd say." Conan laughed. _"You're welcome."_

"Me, spoiled? What about _you_ , having your girlfriend dote on you like a kid every day? And me, coming here to visit you constantly since you've been admitted? There's a dozen-or-two people waiting to see you, you know."

Conan nodded. "I suspect that the police are among them, and the Inspectors. Probably want my statement." Kid nodded and smirked.

"You didn't deny that she's your girlfriend." Conan blushed and pretended not to hear the thief.

"S-so, uhh... W-when can I receive visitors? I assume that I'm not allowed to receive any yet and that you simply snuck in anyway. Have they been told my condition?"

Kid nodded. "Correct and yes. I personally told them, while disguised as the doctor of course, once the doctors knew that you'd probably be alright. You gave us quite a scare, you know. You died _twice_."

"I DIED?"

"Yeah, _twice._ " Conan mumbled under his breath.

"I wonder... if any of the medication could change me back into Shinichi..." Kid looked at him.

"Well, Kudo-san, if it can then it didn't. I made sure to watch over everything: At no point did I hear of you undergoing a drastic change such as reverting back to your old self. Not even your heart stopping changed you back."

Conan hummed. "Well, at least I don't have to worry about anyone here discovering my secret." Kid nodded and stood.

"Well, I should really be going. By now Inspector Megure and Inspector Nakamori have heard that you're awake and they'll be demanding to see you immediately." Kid picked up a needle and bottle of medicine from the little cart. "I do have to give you your sedative though, otherwise they'll know I was here. I was the 'nurse' sent to give you your medication when they saw you'd woken up on the monitors." Conan looked alarmed.

"What? No way! I'm not letting you inject me!"

"Relax." Kaitou rolled his eyes. "I'm just going to put it in the IV drip." He proceeded to do exactly that. "You couldn't stop me if you wanted to. It's either this or you tell them that I came in dressed as a nurse and they send a new one in to inject you, and probably move you to another room and put the room on lockdown, with guards and everything..." Conan grimaced.

"Yeah, I get it-" Kid ploughed on anyway.

"...Not to mention they'll ask questions about why I was in here and what we talked about; why you didn't press the page button to call for assistance," he pointed down at the remote on Conan's left side as he tossed the needle into the biohazardous waste basket.

"Well, there is the option of just waiting until they're scheduled to give you another dose, but that'll be hours from now and you'll be in a lot of pain. I've already done it so just suck it up. I'm well-researched on exactly what you need to be given, and I've been the one giving you your medication for the past two days anyway."

"You've pretended to be my nurse that entire time?!" Conan asked, startled.

"Yup!" Kid pulled his surgical mask back up over his mouth. He strode towards the door but paused half-way there. "Wait, I almost forgot!" He turned back around and pulled a package out of the inner side of his scrubs. "Here, I got you a present!"

"What? You didn't have to- wait!" Kid ignored him, tossing the object onto Conan's bed before hastily departing. Conan sighed and, once he was sure Kid had really gone, smiled.

He lifted the red box that had been tossed onto his bed: It was roughly the size of a stack of plain white printer paper, being about eleven inches long, eight inches wide, and four inches deep. Conan lifted the lid.

 _'Pajamas?'_ He questioned, noting the neatly folded pair of silver silk pajamas that fit perfectly in the box. _'Nice ones, too.'_ When he'd first been shrunken, Old Man Mouri had bought the cheapest pair of five-dollar light-green pajamas he could find, nothing like the silk cloth within this red box. _' I suppose I did need another pair, now that my old ones are bloody and have a bullet hole through them... Where does he get the money for these things if he never keeps any of the jewels he steals?'_ Conan tried not to let that be a clue as to Kid's true identity. He pushed it to the back of his mind.

Conan noticed one other thing in the box; a card the same size as a playing card, completely blank and white on one side and with writing on the other. It read _"Get well soon, Little Detective. Playing games is no fun without a proper opponent!"_ And at the bottom it was signed in the usual manner, as being sent by _"_ _The Phantom Thief Kid,"_ with a black little heart before the name and a quirky little depiction of a monocled, top-hatted smiley-face in the corner.

~ 終わり ~

 **A/N:** **Thank** **s to everyone who has read! I hope you all enjoyed it! And if you did enjoy it, maybe drop me a review, yeah? ^^**

 **That's it, this story is completed, HOWEVER! Please look at my poll on my profile and vote on which Detective Conan/Case Closed/Magic Kaito/Magic Kaito 1412 story idea I should do next! I have several ideas, but I don't know which one I want to write first. Let me know, your input is MUCH APPRECIATED! THANK YOU! ^^**


End file.
